Card-index.



C. A. DISBROW L C. S. BOLL.

GARD INDEX.

APPLIOATION FILED APE. 28, 1913.

Patented May 19,. 1%9144.

Char/es SBO/K rar nir anion;

@BR/LES A.. IHSBRQ'W AND CHARLES S. BOLL, 0F HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

onen-innen.

Speeication of Letters Patent.

Fatented May 19, 1914-.

Application tiled April 28, 1913. Serial No. '?4,t64.

nnow and (li-mams S. Bont, citizens of the United States, residing at Harrisburg, in the county et Dauphin and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Indexes; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such 'as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. v

This invention relates to card indexes, and is particularly adapted for use in connection with said indexes when they are ein ployed for the purpose or keeping accounts; and the object of the same is to provide means whereby at the end of a given period such as one day those persons whose names `are indexed and who have paid may be readily distinguished from the others because of -the position of their` cards, and whereby at the end of a given period such as a Week those persons who have not paid may be distinguished from those who have paid that day or that week-because of the special position of their cards.

A further object is to provide peculiar .means for locking the cards in their drawers or trays when the same are not in use.

rQl`hesc objects will appear from the following specification and claims, and are shown iii the drawings wherein- Figure l is a plan view of one of the cards which may be employed in this connection. Fig. 2 is a perspective detail of one or the trays, showing its cards in several diierent positions. Figs. 3 and 4: are diagrammatic elevations illustrating 'the cards in the tray or box and in different ositions, these views being for the purpose of showing how the cards are locked therein when they are .at their extreme left-hand positions or their intermediate positions as will be explained below.

The card C illustrated herewith in detail in Fig. 1 is that commonlyemplyed with what is known as the Christmas savings scheme whereof we are the proprietors, and it is ruled and cross ruled to produce checks or squares properly inscribed to designate the date andthe amount ot weekly instalment payments which are to be made at a bank or designated place by the naembers of this clubsuch being the .fundamental principle thereof. As the payments l notches sometimes begin at five cents the first week and run upward by progressive steps,4 and sometimes begin at-lit'ty-two cents the first week and run downward to one cent the last kweek, it is obvious that the instalments are small and the labor on the teller who receives them is considerable; and it is the purpose of the present invention to provide a card index system which will reduce the labor as much as possible.

Coming now to the details of the present invention, the number 1 designates a box or tray, or it might be the drawer of a cabinet, in which the cards are to be kept. ln large institutions where there are many members of a club, these trays may be ofmetal and are stored at night in the vault, and if possible each tray will be ot' a size to contain a thousand cards. The latterl along their lower edges are notched as at 2, 3, and 4, the.

notch 3 being about intermediate the ends of the card and the other two notches 2 and a equi-distant from it on opposite sides. Along the bottom oi the tray mid-way between its sides is a rod or wire 5, and the width of this tray is such that when the right hand notch t engages this rod the lett end of the card will lie against the left side of the tray as seen in Fig. 3, the engagement of the left-hand notch Q, with the wire will cause' the card to lie against the right side of the tray, and the engagement of the intermediate notch -3 with such rod or wire will cause the card'to stand in an intermediate position as seen` in Fig. 4.

Assuming new that all the cards are placed against the left side of-the box, and a days business begins. her approaches the tellers window vto pay his or her dues, the card is found by the members name or number, taken out of the box, suitably marked or punched to indioate the payment, and returned to the box in proper order except that the left-hand notch 2 is engagedwith the rod or wire 5 so that the card stands over against the right side of the box. This continues throughout the day, and at the end of the day those cards which stand against the right side indi' cate the payments received that day. These payments are nailed oft and added up, and the total is checked up with the amount in the cash drawer; and then these cards are pushed back to an intermediate position within the box. where their intermediate 3 engage the rod or wire 5. lf we As soon as a mem- 'i v.cards which have vthus beenA moved indicate.

Y upwiththe lol 'to an intermediate position, and the cards v week, and by Saturday night assume that this is Monday evening, those which stand along the center of the box now indicate the members who have paid on either Monday or Tuesday. The process is carried out throughout the remainder ot' the `the bulk of the members will have paid their dues and l ltheir cards will lie along the center of the box While a few absent, sick or delinquent members will have their cards lie along the y left side of the box,

and proper treatment "may be accorded them. If the instalment "former position. Of course if it is restored fst payment be weekly, on Monday morning all cards are again returned to the left side of the box for a repetition of the process during the next week.

' o that the inventionprovides means in the three notches in the lower edge of the card .and the one rod along the center of the box, whereby any card can be lifted out and restored to one of two other positions or to its to its former position, from those cards from which it was taken and 'therefore designates nothing, but if it be changed to one of the othertwo positions it no longer diiers itmay be made to designate anything the user desires. Yet the invention does not contemplate that the card shall be permanently 1removed from the'box, for after it is taken out and marked, punched or otherwise inscribed to indicate what has happened, it is restored to the box and to its pro er position in line with the other cards, a phabetically, chronologically, or otherwise. The only feature of the present invention which comes into play at this time is the peculiar position transversely of the box which the cardoccupies after it is restored. As these boxes are sometimes trays which, morning and evening, are carried from the vault to the tellers desk and from his desk back to the vault, it may be that an accident might occur in transit either way so that a tray should be upset. This of course wouid result in the spilling and confusion of a thousand cards, and would require'considerable labor to restore them to their former position. To prevent such an untoward accident, we prefer to provide the trays `with locking rods 6 and the cards with two openings 7 and 8 each or with a single elongated opening 9 which is practicaliy the samey thing in eil'ect as will be seen. Said openings 7 and8 are spaced apart the distance extreme rigl1t-hand of t-wovof the notches, as 2 and 3, and the length of said opening 9 is the same as this spacing.v The disposition of the openings 7 and 8 or of the extremities of the single opening 9 is such that the locking rod 6 will engage one opening or one end of the long opening when the cards stand 1n one extreme position, will engage the other openingor the other end of the long opening wien the cards stand in the intermediate position, and will pass by one endof the card when the latter stands in the other ex-` treme position. -When the tray is brought out to be used and laid on the tellers desk, this locking rod is removed and immediately he is at liberty to use the cards as above described. the box as seen in Fig. 3 are moved to an position during the day and called oli and checked up and moved back to an intermediate position thatevening, the teller can rcinscrt the rod 6 and it After the cards at the left end of passes through the right-hand openings of V all those cards which have not been moved and through the lett hand openings of those that have been moved in a manner which.

will be clear. Next morning when the tray is again brought into use, this rod can be withdrawn without disturbing the position of the cards that have been handled the day before. If it should so happen that at the end of a days work for some reason the payments on the paid cards are noticalled oi and checked up, the teller can insert the -rod past the end of all these cards because they.

stand so far to the right, and defer calling off and checking up until the next morning.

Thus is produced an extremely simple lock for cards which are yet in two of the three positions described. As just suggested, the long opening 9 is the equivalent of the two independentopenings 7 and 8, because its ends are spaced apart the same distance as are said independent openings, and we will refer to the openings in the plural in the claims below. The parts of this device are by preference of metal, or the rods mi ht be metal and the drawer or tray of Woo and the cards will be of cardboard as usual.. The size's and proportions are immaterial to the successful operation of the device.

What is claimed as new is:

l. In a card index, the combination with a series of cards whereof each has in its lower edge a notch midway between its ends and other notches equally spaced on opposite sides ofthe intermediate notch; of a box wider than the length of the cards by the distance between its two` most distant notches, and a rod along the transverse center of thebottom of the box, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a cardsystem of bookkeeping, for instalment accounts, the combination with a series of account cards inscribed with legends to be punched as instalments are set our hands in presence of two subscribing paid, each card having three notches in its Witnesses.

lower edge; of a box Wider than the length CHARLES A. DISBROW. of the cards, and a rod arranged substan- CHARLES S. BOLL.

5 tially along the transverse center of the bot- Witnesses:

tom of the box, for the purpose set forth. E. A. NISSLEY,

In testimony whereof we have hereunto RUSSELL S. SAYFoRn. 

